Pretty Parsley Going to Seed!

 

Oh, my blog has been so sad the last several years.  With blazing heat and scorching wind and nothing awesome to show for my efforts, it has just been too depressing to post much.

It has actually rained a few times this year, and comparatively it feels like living in an oasis.  My vegetable garden is just pathetic, so I have largely abonded it to experiment with other planting sites around the yard that have 1) fresh dirt from the farm or 2) less exposure to the intense sun and wind.  So far, direct seeding in these areas has been encouraging.  Time will tell.

Herbs have been doing well despite the drought - Italian parsley, rosemary, oregano, sweet basil, holy basil (Thanks, Candy!), sage and some kind of mint.

Here are some recent pics.  So what do the Swinging Singles do on Friday nights?

Cool off our feet, watch the grass grow, and take pictures of the dogs...

Trigger the Digger who came from the pound in Breckenridge, TX.  Poor boy, he'd been at the pound for five months!  He needed a home, and I needed a good dog - we both lucked out!!

Huddy Girl is 12 or 13, but she just keeps on keepin' on.  I think Trig has livened her up some since she's taken to chewing up stuff, just like a pup.  I thought he would learn from her, but I think she's learning from him!!

The hillbilly fountain is still going strong and is accented with Four O'Clocks growing next to it.  Four O'Clocks are easy to grow from seed and have fragrant yellow and pink flowers that open in the evening.  In Lubbock, they need some afternoon and evening shade to perform well.

Herbs: Oregano, Thyme, & Lavender

My herbs are really flushing out for spring.  Above is oregano which was really puny just a few weeks ago .  (That's phlox in the background with the little pink flowers.)

Another shot of oregano.

Thyme in the foreground, lavender in the upper left, and phlox in the back (bright green).

Herbs in Winter: Lavender, Thyme, Oregano

Here are pictures of the lavender, thyme, and oregano I planted last year.  I think they started out as 4" pots.  Not having grown them before, I didn't know if they'd overwinter, but they have and they've also provided good flavor through the winter months!

Lavender in the back and thyme to the front left (on the right is Blue Rug Juniper - not for cooking!) with a natural mulch of leaves.

I've taken a sprig of the lavender and put it in a vase where it lasted for weeks in the house.  Outdoors, it's not quite as bushy as it is during the warmer months, but it's healthy.  The thyme is still flavorful even though it gets a slight purply winter color.  Just strip off the leaves with your finger nail and throw into any dish for awsome flavor!

Lavender close up.

Oregano (it's in there!) grows close to the ground and spreads like a ground cover.

Oregano does die back some in the winter, but there's still enough to enjoy and survive until spring.

There's no need to water these herbs much in the winter as they are native to areas with poor, dry soils.  And these three are not invasive (like mint or basil which need to be planted in a confined space) so they can be used as greenery in your landscape.

Herbs in Winter: Parsley

Last year was the first time I grew parsley.  It is super easy to grow, but it takes a long time to germinate!  Direct seed in the spring, and then you'll have to sit back and wait three weeks or so before you'll see anything.  Here are both the Flat Leaf Italian and the Curly Leaf varieties I grew.

The more flavorful Flat Leaf Italian Parsley is generally preferred for cooking.

Up close, the Flat Leaf Italian Parsley looks similar to cilantro.  In fact, a few years ago, I accidentally bought a bunch at the store having mistaken it for cilantro and threw it in a batch of homemade salsa.  Oops - no chips and salsa at the Oscar party that year!

Here's the curly leaf parsly which is traditionally used as a garnish but can also be used in cooking.  Both varieties are small and clumpy right now because they are beginning to flush from the base.  Parsley is supposed to bloom the second year, so I plan to leave them in the ground to see what they do, but I'll also sow some new seed since herbs tend to produce less once they start blooming.

Close up of the curly leaf parsley, which I have never tried in salsa!

Don't feeling like trucking it out to the garden every day in the cold?  Just stick a few cuttings in water, and they'll keep for several days.

Cook up an omlet in your cast iron pan and top it with some fresh parsley... dee-lish!!

Herbs in Winter: Rosemary

Rosemary is a great all-season herb for West Texas - use it in the landscape and in the kitchen all year round!

Rosemary stays green all winter which provides a welcome burst of green during the cold, brown months.  As such, it also provides a burst of fresh flavor in the kitchen!  Dice it up for cooking, or snip several longer woody branches from a mature plant to use as flavorful skewers for kabobs.

While tolerant of poor soils, rosemary in not tolerant of over-watering.  I don't usually water my front landscape at all in the winter - whatever runs off the front of the house is enough.  As you know, we've had a ton of winter preciptation this year, and here you can see the die back that results when rosemary gets wet feet.  This is the view when walking out my front door right now - beautiful, isn't it?  Between runoff from the roof and a slope in the sidewalk that retains water, this rosemary's not completely happy!

Here's the same bush from the front which doesn't look so bad.

Rosemary gets a slight burgundy winter color at the tips, but it doesn't affect the overall look of the plant much.  You'll also notice that the plant gets a slight gray-green color to it in winter and turns a brighter green with warmer weather.

Here's another stand of rosemary about twenty feet away which looks a little better.  I planted this about four or five years ago from three quart-size plants I bought at the garden center.  You can see that the they've all grown together to form one large planting.  That's a crape myrtle in the foreground and Cabaret Miscanthus grass in the back which is really pretty in the summer.  (Ornamental grasses can be cut back in the winter if you prefer, but I usually leave mine until they start to flush again in the spring.)